RBI Denies Reports of Gold Sales Amid West Asia Crisis

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has denied reports suggesting that it sold part of its gold reserves to protect foreign-exchange assets from the impact of the conflict in West Asia.

In a clarification, the central bank said it had come across reports in certain sections of the media regarding the RBI's sale of gold and stressed that such reports were incorrect.

"The RBI emphasizes that these reports are not correct," the central bank said in a statement.

The clarification came after some reports suggested that the RBI may have sold part of its gold reserves in May to protect its foreign-exchange assets from the fallout of the conflict in the Middle East.

According to the reports, the RBI likely sold gold reserves worth about USD 12 billion in the two weeks through May 22 while purchasing USD 7.5 billion worth of foreign-currency assets.

The analysis argued that a decline in the value of the RBI's gold holdings despite higher import duties on the precious metal indicated possible bullion sales by the central bank.

It linked the purported sales to efforts by policymakers to manage pressures arising from capital outflows, elevated crude oil prices and weakness in the rupee amid the ongoing West Asia conflict.

Gold Holdings Remain Unchanged

The RBI clarified that the physical stock of gold is disclosed in its monthly bulletin and that the physical stock of gold "remains unchanged at 880.52 tonnes as on date".

"Members of the public are, therefore, advised to rely on official information published by RBI from time to time in such matters," it added.

The latest edition of the RBI's monthly bulletin, cited by the central bank in its clarification, showed that India's gold reserves stood at 880.52 metric tonnes as of April 24, 2026.

According to the data, the physical stock of gold remained unchanged at 880.52 tonnes from April 3 through April 24. The value of the holdings, however, fluctuated in line with movements in international gold prices and exchange rates.

The RBI noted that the monthly bulletin contains foreign-exchange reserve data only up to April 24, 2026, while the Bloomberg Economics analysis relates to the two weeks ended May 22.